– In antiquity, it was believed that God could reveal himself through dreams, and there are several texts from the Bible confirming this:
Gen 20:3 : But God appeared to Abimelech in a dream and said to him.
Gen 26:24 : That same night, the Lord appeared to him and said: “I am the God of Abraham, your father”.
Gn 28,12 : And he had a dream: he saw a ladder, which, leaning on the earth, touched the sky with its top.
Gen 31:24 : God, however, appeared in a night dream to Laban the Aramean.
Gen 37,5-10 : Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers, who hated him even more.
Gen 46 :2 : In a night vision, God said to him: “Jacob! Jacob!” “Here am I,” he replied.
Num 12,6 : If there is a prophet among you, I will appear to him in a vision; I, the Lord, will speak to him in a dream.
Num 22,9 : God came to Balaam and said to him: “Who are these people you have in your house?”.
Judges 7:13 : At the moment when Gideon approached, a man was just telling a dream.
1Sm 28,6 : And he inquired of the Lord, who answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by the Urim, nor by the prophets.
2Sm 7,4 : But the word of the Lord came to Nathan that same night.
1Kings 3 :5 : The Lord appeared to him in a dream in Gibeon during the night.
1Ch 17,3 : But the following night, the word of God came to Nathan.
2Ch 7,12 : During the night, the Lord appeared to him: “I heard”, he said, “your prayer”.
Est 11 :2 : Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Semei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, had a dream.
2Mc 15,11-12 : He also narrated to them a vision worthy of faith, a kind of vision that filled them with joy.
Dn 2,1.19 : Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that disturbed his spirit to such an extent that he lost sleep.
Dan 7,1 : In the first year of the reign of Baltazar, king of Babylon, Daniel, being on his bed, had a dream.
Mt 1:20 : While he was thinking this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
Mt 2,12-13.19.20 : Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they returned to their homeland by another route.
Mt 27:19 : Do nothing to that righteous man. I was tormented today by a dream concerning you.
Acts 2:17 : Your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Acts 16:9: At night, Paul had a vision: a Macedonian standing before him.
Acts 18 :9: One night, the Lord said to Paul in a vision: “Do not be afraid! Speak and do not be silent”.
Acts 23:11 : The following night, the Lord appeared to him and said: “Take courage!”.
– But they had to be well interpreted:
Gn 40,8 : We had a dream – they replied –; and there is no one to interpret them for us.
Dan 1:17 : Daniel was particularly knowledgeable in the interpretation of visions and dreams.
Dan 2,5.26-27 : If you do not explain to me the content of the dream and its meaning, you will be torn to pieces.
Dn 5,12 : A superior spirit, a science and a particular penetration to interpret dreams.
– Yahweh warns his people against false messages:
Deut 13,2-4 : If a prophet or a visionary arises among you, announcing a sign or a wonder to you.
Ecclesiastes 5:2: Because many occupations give rise to dreams, and the torrent of words gives rise to foolish resolutions.
Eclo 34,1-5 : The fool lives on chimerical hopes; the reckless build on dreams.
Jr 23,25-26.32 : I hear what the prophets say who utter false oracles in my name. “I had a dream”.
Jr 29,8 : Do not be enticed by the prophets, […] nor by the soothsayers. Do not listen to the dreams that announce.
Zech 10,2 : The soothsayers only saw lying visions; they tell vain dreams, and their consolations are useless.
Jd 1,8 : So also these men, in their mad madness, also defile the flesh, […] they curse the glories.
